Take Attendance in the Staff Portal - Step Through the Process

The Staff Portal provides a secure place for your staff to manage their classes and take student attendance. Follow these simple steps to launch the Staff Portal, view your classes, take class attendance, and confirm attendance has been completed.

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Step 1 - Access and Log in to the Staff Portal

The Staff Portal can be accessed and opened from multiple access points:

• Log in from within Jackrabbit
• Log in for multi-locations within Jackrabbit
• Log in remotely with a link
• Log in remotely from a mobile device

Step 2 - Navigate to the Manage Classes Tab

Once logged in to the Staff Portal, go to the Manage Classes tab to view your classes. As a default, the current day's classes are displayed. Use the Class Filters to display different classes as needed.

Step 3 - Use the Attendance Button

Click the Attendance button for a class to open the Attendance page. Attendance has already been completed if the class displays a green check mark on the main page. 

If your Staff Portal settings allow for partial attendance, an orange check mark indicates that class attendance has been started but not completed. 

Step 4 - Take Attendance

Select either Present or Absent for each student. Use the All Present or All Absent buttons to quickly complete attendance for a full or empty class. The Undo button will back out any changes made since the last save. Use Return to take you back to the Manage Classes main page.

Mark a Student Present

For students who are marked present, you have the option of adding attendance details noting whether the student was late for class, left early, or was just observing class that day.

Use the arrow next to the Present button to drop down the attendance detail options; select all that apply. A badge will display under the Present button for each option. These attendance details can be displayed on the Student Attendance Report.

Mark a Student Absent

For students who are marked absent, you have the option of adding the absence for today (the current date) or scheduling it for a future date.

If Jackrabbit is set up to track absences, and makeups are allowed, a Can Makeup? checkbox will display for each student marked absent on the current day. When an absence is scheduled for the future, the eligibility for makeup is added at that time. A note can be added, which will be displayed on the Absences tab in the Student record. If the student is not eligible leave the Can Makeup? checkbox clear. A note can be entered to indicate why the student was not eligible to make up the class. 

Schedule a Future Absence

Staff can schedule future absences for a student. Select Schedule Future Absences, select the date range for the absence, the reason for the future absence (optional), and select the checkbox if the student is eligible to make up the class. Confirm the future absence to complete. Note: You will not have the option to schedule a future absence on a date when the facility is closed.

Partial Attendance

If partial attendance is permitted (Staff > Staff Portal > Portal Settings > Attendance Options), you can save at any time so that you can complete attendance later. This is helpful when you want to take attendance as students come in and you need to manage other classes at the same time. These classes will be marked with an orange check mark to indicate partial attendance. 

If partial attendance is not permitted, you must mark every student as either being present or absent before you are able to save the changes. A warning will display if you have not completed attendance and you will not be able to save; students who have not been marked as present or absent will be highlighted.

Step 5 - Confirm Attendance is Complete

Return to the Main Attendance page to locate any classes with no check mark or an orange check mark. Select the Attendance button to complete marking the students present or absent and Save.

A staff person who is allowed to enter attendance and is set to the Time Entry Method of either Clock In/Out or Manual In/Out (Staff record > Portal Settings tab) will receive a warning if they attempt to clock out when they still have classes that need to have attendance completed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.  If a staff member has not completed taking attendance in the Staff Portal, what should I do?

A.  The best bet is to catch this early! The Executive Dashboard displays an alert for the previous day's classes that did not have complete attendance taken in the Staff Portal. Keep an eye on this alert daily to stay on top of Staff Portal Attendance.

Use the link in the alert to take you to the details of which class(es) were not completed for the previous day. You can enter a different date in the search field of the Date column to view another single day, or you can generate the report for a range of dates from the Staff menu > Staff Portal > Staff Portal Reports > Incomplete Portal Attendance.

The attendance must be completed in the Staff Portal for a class to be removed from the Incomplete Portal Attendance report for any date. 

Use the Portal Msg link next to the class to create a Staff Portal login message that the instructor of that class will see when they next log into their portal, reminding them to complete attendance for the class. If you are set up for text messaging in Jackrabbit, you will see a link to send a text to the instructor.

If the attendance needs to be completed right away, you have the option of logging in to the Staff Portal and completing the attendance for the class yourself (You must have a login ID that is permitted to manage other instructors' classes. See Attendance Settings). You could then use the Portal Msg link/Text Msg link to let the instructor know that you have completed attendance for them.

Q.  Will a makeup student appear in the Staff Portal so the instructor knows they will be in class?

A.  Yes! Makeup students are included in the roster on the Attendance page and are highlighted as being in class for a makeup. Attendance can also be taken for makeup students. Note: absences for makeups are automatically marked eligible for makeup.

Q.  If I know all my students will be attending classes tomorrow or the next day, will I be able to mark them as being present?

A.  No. You are limited to marking students as present or absent on the same day as the class.